Fact Friday 244 - The School That Miss Bonnie Built and #CharlotteStrong

Happy Friday!

Yesterday, UNC Charlotte honored the memory of students Riley Howell and Reed Parlier who lost their lives in a tragic campus shooting last year on April 30. An online program was streamed via the University's Twitter and Facebook accounts to celebrate their lives and pay tribute and acknowledgement to Drew Pescaro, Emily Houpt, Rami Alramadhan, and Sean DeHart, who were seriously injured, as well as the hundreds of students, staff, faculty, and others who experienced the lock-down on campus during the event, which started around 5:40 PM. You may know that Reed and Riley lost their lives in the historic Kennedy building, which was the first building on campus. The building can be seen prominently on display in the background of the article below, featuring Dr. Bonnie Cone. The hashtag #CharlotteStrong emerged during the crisis and helped to galvanize global support for the University.

In July 1965, Charlotte College officially joined the UNC System as the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. That same month, Time Magazine ran a profile on the school's founder Bonnie Cone, entitled “The School Miss Bonnie Built,” which led to an outpouring of congratulation letters from around the country.

Congratulations letters, July 1965.

Commemorative wreaths outside the Kennedy Building, 2020.

To read more about the Kennedy Building or UNC Charlotte history, click here and here, respectively.

Until next week!

Chris.

Email me at chris@704shop.com if you have interesting Charlotte facts you’d like to share or just to provide feedback!

Information taken from:

UNC Charlotte Special Collections on Instagram: @unccspeccoll

“We have to do with the past only as we can make it useful to the present and the future.” – Frederick Douglass